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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Reflecting on 2013 Reading

I've been doing lots of reflecting lately. This time of year always seems to bring these thoughts around, and of course my reading is included in these reflections. Every year always seems to sort itself into some sort of trend, and this year has had several.

This was a year of reading women.

Right this minute, I've read 72 books for the year, and I will probably manage to squeeze in a few more before we're into 2014. Of those 72 books, 48 of them have been authored by women. And WOW! That's a big change from my past reading experience. For many years I read more male authors than female, and then the numbers got more even, but this year the authoresses take the cake. And it seems to be working for me because this has been the best year of reading I've had in probably 5 years?

This was a year of reading backlist.

While earlier on in the year I tackled a few frontlist offerings, I really set my sights on backlist, especially in the latter half of the year. I have probably 250-300 books on my TBR, and there is a REASON why I bought them! The ones I own now have survived endless culling, and they're books I genuinely want to read, so I devoted myself to giving them some love, and I could not be more thrilled with the results.

This was a year of making lists.

And sticking to them! I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I used to suck at following any kind of challenge or TBR planning. But somehow things clicked into place this year. I suspect it has something to do with the challenges on my time. Having a list of books I want to read at any given time actually helps me focus instead of bouncing all over the place to find something to read.

I'll be posting my favorite books of the year after Christmas, or maybe early in 2014. I can't stand the thought of doing it now and reading one or two more great books. But these trends have clearly established themselves, so I figured I'd go ahead and celebrate them. They've made for a stunning 2013.